Skid chain applying device



March 23, 1954 D. s. BUSHNELL 2,672,911

SKIDCHAIN APPLYING DEVICE Filed May 17, 1952 FlG 2 l6 INVENTOR BY ii DAVID S. BUSHNELL fender wells.

Patented Mar. 23, 1954 2372,911 basin-APPLYING nn'vlon been" siiatsnseu, same, wast; Aiipuestioatrsy 17, leaa- -"serial noz zsegtst i diainis. (o1.1 2 -'2i'3)7 My invention relatesfto' means fo'rattachingautomobile tire chains without jacking 'up the automobile,- and; more specifically, to'skid chain applying device. Briefly, this-structure includes a clip member on the end-iiiiks of the chain-haw ing-hook meansto 'bel-imbedded in the sidewall of the tire when applying the" chain to the tire." The clip-members are rotatable on the links so they may be positioned inside or the links when not in use. a

The taskofapplyingtirechains to automobiles insnow or ice has for along time i made winter driving 1 uncomfortable and the motorist may a erous y n t ply ch in e u the difficulty in attaching the chains. In the city the ga a e mechanic--is available'-to apply the chains to a car. The "city, however, is not where thepshe rev e d s -m h h a n t! t raffi e si s e r l ti y e dition. Onthe other hand'when th'e driv er leaves the city and drives on rural reads-or highways the time is i ter he sa da e o w: hout tire chains pn-the carr When-the driver finds he needs"chainsythe-service stations are few and far between, forcing'him to apply tire"- chains alone. I p p A p Automotive designers their; quest tor speed and beauty have dropped t-he automobile loser to the roadwith; the tires rotating-within deep ..h s k s the ile; t e "r inaccessi leandt e-application of tire chains is a dirty and tiresome job.

Previous attempts have i been i made to" solve this problem but the solution has been evasive. While the problem has "teemasily recognized, previ'diis solutions have benao provide ach in attachiiig'fievice-entirelysepara 'from the'ch in itself. These devices-lie loose the trunk of the car most of the year andyvrhen' the tire chain is applied, the attachment is often temporarily laid to rest on the groundwhile the final lockmet: "the chain takes placeand" then is "forgotten. When the attachment is lost or mislaid, the driver is forced back to the former methods of chain application.

The primary object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a tire chain attaching device permanently afiixed to the tire chain and adapted to grip the tire so that the chain is spread around the tire when the tire is rotated.

A further object of my invention is to provide a tire chain with a means for gripping the tire which is an integral part of the chain but which will be retained in a position so as to avoid contacting the tire while the chain is on the tire.

A further object of mylzinvention is f to provide the chain attaching: means which contact only the sidewall of the tire s'othat as'the tire is 1'0 tated 'the ti're does not roll over the attaching means and possibly dislodgethe same? Further objects and 'cap'a'bilitieswill be apparent from the-disclosure in the drawir igs in'whib Figure '1 a perspective =viewoi mylattachin device as applied to a---tire" etrain in itsengagihgi position;

Figure 2 is aper'spectivewie'w' ofmy atta'chmga device in its retracted position Figure 3 is a fragmentary? elevational view-, partially in section, showingcmyFattachingmieansin engagement with a tires Figure 4; is a cross sectional viewtaken along: line 4-4 of Figure 1 Figures 5', 6, and- 1 arefragmentary elevationaiviews showing =successive-steps duringr theap: plication of a tire chai-nwith my attachingwde vice; and

Figure-'8 is a-perspective-yiew of a modified form: of my gripping-device; i

Referring now to-thedisclosure in thedraw-ings the numeral -l 0designatesgenerailymy tire chain attaching device in'its primaryqform-s These-at taching devicesare-=used'irrpairsso that one with contact the -;ou ter siclevvall of the tire and the other contact theoppositesidewall.'=

Theentire attaching dev-ice isformed as 'a unitary structure preferably of spring steeiand is plated to preventcorrosiom= Although I have found this to bethe best material, other materials might be used with 'satisfact'ory" "results: The clips may be sold installed on a "set of new"chains, or separately, to the motorist'who owns'a-fset" o'f chains having no" attaching means; andfthey may also be removed 'fro'maworn seto'f chains and place on anewsetI ai to? be. re of tire =c-aifi inkn. The'nii"of"side and M are bent outwardly forming opposed guide lips H and I3 with the restricted opening ['5 separating these. Opening l5 must normally be smaller than the diameter of the chain link stock so as to grip the link but during the application of the attaching device to the link, sidewalls l2 and I4 must be distorted to the extent that opening IE will allow the passage of link L there through. This forms a grip on the link so thatit can be rotated by the fingers, to the desired position, and held there by the spring tension.

Extending from the upper margin of the closed.

end of the body portion is a tire gripping finger I 6. This gripping finger extends above the body portion and is bent outwardly therefrom in a U- shaped pattern to provide a downwardly extending free end I8. This free end is provided with a sharp point for engaging the tire. While in the drawings I have shown the tire engaging finger formed entirely above the uppermost limit of the body portion, this is not essential to the device as the free end of the U-shaped tire engaging finger may be of greater or lesser length which would alter the relative position of the tire engaging point.

As shown in Figure 8 of the drawing, the construction of my attaching device may be altered from the preferred embodiment. In the illustrated variation the main C-shaped body portion is similar in design and identical in function with that of the primary design with only the tire gripping portion being altered. Here, the sidewalls l2 and I4 extend from the opening [5 along the surface of the chain link and then are bent outwardly from the chain link in juxtaposition forming a flange 24. This flange terminates in the joining of the sidewalls as at 25. The distance which this flange extends outwardly from the link may vary but it should not be greater than the width inside the chain link so that this extended flange may rotate around the side portion of the link and not contact the opposed side portion of the same. The lower edge of flange 25 as viewed in Figure 8 is curved downwardly to form an acute angle with the outermost margin. This forms a sharp point at 2! where the outermost margin and the beveled edge 26 meet.

My tire chain attaching devices are manually placed on the chains in the following manner. First the extending guide lips I I and I3 are placed astraddle the side of the link to be attached.

Pressure is then exerted upon the closed end of the C-shaped body portion while holding the link L against movement. This pressure causes the guide lips to pass along the walls of the link causing the c-shaped body portion to open until the expanding points pass the center of the link stock whereupon the slot l5 starts to close around the other side of the link stock. This action continues until the position of Figure l is obtained. When a second chain attaching device has been similarly secured to a link on the opposed longitudinal band of this chain it may then be attached to the tire.

Method of operation When my chain attaching device is in the position of Figure 1 the tire chain 0 is placed upon the ground just behind the tire to which it is to be attached. One of the links L, to which my device is secured, is then raised and placed so that the sharp point of gripping finger l3 contacts the sidewall of the tire T. A slight downward pressure is then applied and the point bites into the tire in the manner shown in Figure 3. Point [8 of finger I6 is formed so as not to penetrate the tire wall as far as fabric reinforcement 22. This operation is repeated with the other link L on the opposed sidewalls of the tire and the position shown in Figure 5 is achieved. The car is now moved forward through the position of Figure 6 to the position of Figure 7 which is just one revolution of the tire. With a slight upward pressure on link L the gripping finger I8 is withdrawn from the tire. The motorist removes the gripping finger from the tire and rotates the gripping device to the position of Figure 2 and then secures the chain by lock 26 in the usual manner. The gripping devices remain in this retracted position during use and until the chains are again to be applied insuring that the tire walls will not be scarred, protecting the sharp point from damage, and making the chains safe to handle.

Having thus disclosed the invention, I claim:

1. An anti-skid chain for vehicle tires, comprising: two side chains provided with joinder means at their ends to form an annular ring at each side of a tire and laterally joined by a plurality of cross chains to pass across the tire tread, and a chain anchor revolvably attached to a side bar of adjacent terminal links of each side chain,

each of said chain anchors being in the form of a resiliently gripping, open-sided, snap-on cylinder formed of spring metal and fitting closely to the side bar of such a chain link, each chain anchor having a pointed hook outstanding from that side of the cylinder opposite its open side, said hook being shaped to permit insertion into the side wall of a tire and being directed longitudinally of the cylinder away from the terminal end of the associated side chain and toward the other end thereof.

The structure according to claim 1 in which the pointed hook is formed of a fiat, sharpened band of metal integral with and outstanding from one end of the gripping cylinder and bent so that its pointed end is directed toward the other end of the cylinder.

3. The structure according to claim 1 in which the pointed hook includes an integral flange outstanding from the side of the cylinder opposite its open side, said flange having a sharp pointed extension to engage in the tire casing.

4. The structure according to claim 3 in which the flange progressively increases in its outstanding relationship relative the cylinder and at its widest dimension has a pointed extension.

DAVID S. BUSHNELL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,397,818 Moore Nov. 22, 1921 2,609,027 Locke Sept. 2, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 798,045 France May 8, 1936 

